Rotary drum type mining head with wedging means



y 0, 1956 R. H. KRAFT ET AL ROTARY DRUM TYPE MINING HEAD WITH WEDGING MEANS Filed July 30, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. HUBER T H KRHF T R/L'HHRD Cf LUNDULl/S 7' July 10, 1956 R. H. KRAFT ETAL 2,754,102

ROTARY DRUM TYPE MINING HEAD WITH WEDGING MEANS Filed July 30, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HUBER T HKRHF'T R/CHHRD [Z LUNDQU/S T ET 3 m FITTURNE'V July 10, 1956 KRAFT ETAL 2,754,102

ROTARY DRUM TYPE MINING HEAD WITH WEDGING MEANS Filed July 30, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. HUBER TH KRHFT R/L'HHRD 5'. LUNDQU/5 T B Y H TTURNEV July 10, 1956 R, H. KRAFT ET AL ROTARY DRUM TYPE MINING HEAD WITH WEDGING MEANS Filed July 30, 1955 5 She ets-$heet 4 i// ZT W/% wm w kw mm mN NW N g m y mmm E M N4 H mu 0 HL Tc T M W m n y NH [5 R MN MN y 10, 1956 R. H. KRAFT ET AL 2,754,102

ROTARY DRUM TYPE MINING HEAD WITH WEDGING MEANS Filed July 30, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 llll ih'm..,...mmlml/lllI] l :l l

[HIM/HIM INVENTOR. HUBER T H KRHF T R/L'HHRD C LUN047U/5 7 B Y HTTURNEV This invention relates to improvements in mining heads for continuous coal mining machines, particularly adapted to cut and dislodge coal from a solid coal without shooting.

Heretofore, coal has been cut and dislodged from the solid by continuous chain cutters and by rotary mining heads cutting a plurality of parallel kerfs in the coal face, and wedging or breaking off Various arrangements of cutters and rollers in the forms of wedges and the like have been used to dislodge the cores between the kerfs, lodging elements have been satisfactory to a limited extent, they have a tendency to crush the core to an undesirable extent and retard the advance of the mining head into and along the mining and dislodging operation.

The principal objects of our invention are to remedy these difiiculties by providing a continuous mining head so arranged as to obtain a higher percentage of lump coal than formerly and to pull coal face during the cutting and dislodging operation.

Another and important object of our invention is to provide a new and improved uncut coal is broken from the face and the mining head is maintained in engagement wedges cooperating with the cutter bits of the mining head, and so formed and arranged as to hook into the kerf wall and pull the cores backwardly off the face, and at the same time exert a thrust reaction tending to pull the cutter head into the face.

A further object of our invention is to provide a min ing head of the class described wherein a plurality of rows of orbitally travelling cutter bits are provided to cut a plurality of lodging wedges are associated with certain of the bits and progress into the kerfs, to engage the kerf walls and dislodge the cores between the kerfs with a transverse shearing and backward hooking action, and wherein the peripheries of the dislodging wedges recede from the leading to trailing ends thereof at the rate of advance of the cutting element into the the coal by engagement of the core at its periphery.

and improved form of rotary drum type mining head wherein the cores between by dislodging wedges wider at their peripheries than their base and diverging in thickness from the leading to trailing ends thereof and exert a thrusting reaction thereagainst, tending to pull the mining head into the coal face as the core is pulled backwardly therefrom.

from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherenited States Patent RQTARY DRUM TYPE MINING HEAD WITH WEDGING MEANS Robert Kraft and Richard C. Lundquist, Chicago, lll.,

assignors to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicage, lll., a corporation of Illinois 5 Claims.

face

the cores between the kerfs.

and while many of these disthe coal face, and tend to progress head away from the face during the cutting 0 the mining head into the mining head wherein the with the face by parallel kerfs in the coal face and dis- 5 face, to avoid crushing of wedge with the face of the A further object of our invention is to provide a novel 6 the kerfs are' wedged down acting on the kerf walls to These and other objects of our invention will appear on September 20,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a mining head constructed in accordance with our invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of the mining head shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken through the mining head in order to show one cutting and dislodging annulus in side elevation;

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail view in perspective of a section of the central cutting and dislodging annulus of the mining head, showing the rows of cutter blocks and bits and the relationship of the core breaking wedges with respect to the blocks;

Figure 5 is a detail fragmentary sectional view taken generally along line 5-5 of Figure 3 and illustrating the progression of a core dislodging wedge into the kerf as the wedge initially enters the kerf to engage the wall of the kerf;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line 66 of Figure 3, and illustrating a further stage of progression of the core dislodging wedge into the kerf showing an intermediate portion of the wedge dislodging the core from the solid coal face;

Figure '7 is a fragmentary sectional view somewhat similar to Figures 5 and 6, but taken substantially along line 7-7 of Figure 3, and showing the core completely dislodged by the trailing end of the wedge, and also illustrating the clearance between the periphery of the dislodging wedge and the coal face, as the cutting and dislodging element advances into the coal face;

Figure 8 is an enlarged view of one of the core dislodging wedges shown in Figure 3, but showing the wedge prior to attachment to the mining head;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary view of the core dislodging wedge shown in Figure 8, showing the leading face thereof;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary rear end view of the dislodging wedge shown in Figure 8, showing the rear face of the wedge and the hook like form of the wedge and the thickness of the wedge at the trailing edge thereof; and

Figure 11 is a bottom in Figure 8.

in the embodiment of our invention illustrated in the drawings, reference character 10 indicates generally a mining head or cutting and dislodging element of the rotary drum type. Said mining head is shown as being rotatably supported between two parallel spaced vertically extending cutter bars 11, 11 having cutter chains 12, 12 guided for orbital movement thereabout, as usual. The cutter chains 12, 12 may include a plurality of pivotally connected blocks 13, 13 pivotally connected together by connecting links 14, 14 and orbitally driven about the cutter bars 11, 11 by power driven sprockets (not shown) as is usual with such machines. The blocks 13, 13 are arranged at varying angles with respect to the center of said cutter chain, to pitch cutter bits 15, 15 detachably carried thereby, to cut sufliciently wide kerfs in the coal face, to accommodate the cutter bars 11, 11 to partially enter the kerfs.

The cutter chains 12, 12 change their direction of travel at the forward ends of said cutter bars about sprockets 16, 16, forming the drive means for a rotary drum l7, rotatably supported between said cutter bars and forming the support and drive member for the rotary mining head fill. v

The cutter bars 11, 11 may be transversely pivoted at their rear ends on a mobile mining machine frame (not shown) and with the mining head 10 form the front part of the mining head or cutting and dislodging element of a continuous mining machine of thetype disclosed in application Serial No. 116,684, filed by Frank Cartlidge 1949, owned by the assignee of the plan view of the wedge shown present invention, and not herein shown or described in detail since it forms no part of our present invention.

Vertical feeding movement of the cutter bars and mining head is preferably from the mine roof to the mine floor and is shown as being effected by the usual cylinder and piston devices 18, 18, although it may be from the floor to the mine roof by reversing the setting of the cutter bits. The cutter bars and mining head may also be advanced by feeding mechanism on the machine (not shown), horizontally into the coal face along the mine roof to out just beneath the roof, where cutting is from the roof to the floor, and may be retractably moved with respect to the coal face along the ground, for withdrawing the mining head therefrom, in a manner clearly shown and described in the aforementioned application of Frank Cartlidge, so not herein shown or described further.

The drum 17 is shown as being rotatably mounted between end plates 29, 20 of the cutter bars 11, 11 on a transverse shaft 21, suitably secured to said end plates and spacing the cutter bars 11, 11 apart in parallel relation with respect to each other. The drum 17 may be journaled on the transverse shaft 21 on suitable bearings (not shown), which may be anti-friction bearings, and has the sprockets 16, 16 keyed or otherwise secured to its opposite ends, to be rotatably driven by the cutter chains 1.2, 12 meshing with said sprockets, as in the aforementioned application of Frank Cartlidge, Serial No. 116,684.

Keyed or otherwise secured to the periphery of the drum 17, are a plurality of spaced collars 23, 23, spaced apart by spacing collars 24, 24. The collars 23, 23 are shown as having annular cutter disks or flanges 25, 25 extending radially therefrom and shown in Figures 5, 6 and 7 as being formed integrally therewith. The flanges 25, 25 have integral radially projecting cutter bit carrying cutter blocks 27, 27, spaced therearound at equal angles. The cutter blocks 27, 27 carry the usual cutter bits 29, 29, which are detachably held thereto as by set screws 39, 30.

Certain of the blocks 27, 27 are shown as being center blocks while certain other blocks 27 extend to the right and left of center at varying angles, to cut clearance for the cutter flanges 25, 25, to accommodate said flanges to advance into the kerfs cut by said cutter bits as the cutter head is advanced into and along the coal face for cutting and dislodging the coal therefrom.

in the illustrative form of our invention shown herein, each annular flange 25 has six cutter blocks 27, 27, spaced circumferentially thereabout at equal distances, and supporting the cutter bits 29, 29 in three successive angular positions, one in a center position, the next position extending angularly to one side of center, and the third position extending angularly to the other side of center, to cut a plurality of parallel spaced kerfs 32, 32 having outstanding cores 33, 33 therebetween.

it is of course, understood that the cutter chains 12, 12 cut the outermost cores 32, 32, and that since the cutter chains have a greater number of cutter blocks 13 and bits 14 than the rotary mining head, that they usually have more than three angular positions.

Referring now to the novel core breaking means of our invention, a plurality of core dislodging wedges 36, as are shown as being mounted on certain side faces of the flanges 25 and in association with certain of the cutter blocks 27 and cutter bits 29. As shown in Figure l, the center flange 25 has two diametrically opposed dislodging Wedges 36, 36 mounted on opposite side faces thereof, as by welding, while the next adjacent flanges 25, 25 on opposite sides of the center flange 25 have smooth inner faces facing the center flange 25, and each have one dislodging wedge 36 mounted on the outer face thereof and facing the next outwardly spaced flange 25.

The outermost flanges 25, 25 are shown as having smooth inner faces facing the next inwardly spaced flanges 25, 25 and as having one core dislodging wedge 36 on the outer faces thereof, facing the cutter chains 12, 12, to break the cores between the kerfs cut by the outermost rows of cutter bits 29, 29 and the cutter bits 15, 15' carried by the cutter chains 12, 12.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 11, showing in detail the form of the dislodging wedges 36, 36 and their arrangement on the center flange 23, each wedge 36 is shown as having a leading end face 37 extending radially along the side face of the flange 25 from a spacing step or shoulder 38 to a position adjacent the periphery of an associated cutter block 27. The leading edge 37 of the dislodging wedge 36 is shown as being located on the side face of the flange 25, slightly ahead of an associated center cutter bit 29, to clear the kerf wall cut by the next advance angnlarly extending cutter bit, as shown in Figure 5.

An outer periphery 39 of the dislodging wedge 36 is shown as receding radially from the outer margin of the associated block 27 toward the axis of the drum 17 a distance indicated by reference character y in Figure 3 and determined by the length of the wedge and the rate of advance of the mining head into and along the coal face. The amount y that the outer periphery of the wedge recedes, is at the rate of feed of the mining head, and is such that the periphery of the dislodging wedge 36 will never come into contact with the coal face as the mining head advances thereinto and therealong, as shown in Figures 6 and 7.

in other words, the curved outer peripheral surface of each dislodging wedge recedes at a rate at least sufficient to compensate for feeding movement of the cutting and dislodging element into and along the coal face, so that the peripheries of the dislodgin'g wedges will never come into crushing engagement with the face of the core.

The outer peripheral face 39 of each dislodging wedge 36 is shown as diverging angularly outwardly from the side face of the associated flange 25, to come into wedging engagement with the kerf wall. Each dislodging wedge 36 is also shown as having an outer kerf wall engaging or wedging surface 41, receding inwardly toward the flange 25, from the outer edge of the face 39, to form an outwardly wedging and inwardly inclined hooking or kerf wall engaging face of a generally concave semi-spiral form.

The peripheral surface of the wedge 36 thus gradually increases in Width from the leading to the trailing edge thereof while the kerf engaging wall 41 is inclined inwardly toward the flange 25, and decreases in width toward the inner margin'of the wedge, to form an in- Wardly inclined wedging, kerf wall engaging surface having a hooking tendency, and exerting a backward pulling thrust on the core, and a counter forward thrusting action on the mining head, tending to pull the mining head into the coal face.

It may be seen with reference to Figure 1 that the arrangement of the bit blocks 27, 27 on the flanges 25, 25 throughout the width of the mining head is a staggered arrangement. The blocks and cutter bits on one flange are thus in between the blocks and cutter bits on the next adjacent flange, to provide a uniform cutting action throughout the width of the mining head.

The wedges 36, 36 are likewise arranged in staggered relation with respect to each other throughout the width of the mining head, to provide a substantially continuous breaking action during rotation of the head.

In Figure l, the leading edges of the dislodging wedges on the first and third cutter flanges from the left are shown as entering the kerfs 32 cut by the cutter bits 29, 29 on the associated flanges 25, 25 and moving along the kerf wall into the position shown in Figure 5. Continued rotation of the drum 15 will advance the inwardly inclined hooking and wedging faces of the dislodging wedges 36, 36 to positively engage the kerf Walls and laterally shear the cores between adjacent kerfs as in Figure 6. At the same time the hooking and wedging faces will hook the cores backwardly with a resulting counter reaction on the mining head tending to pull the mining head into the coal face.

It may be seen from Figures 5, 6 and 7 that during this core dislodging and advancing operation that the periphery 39 of each dislodging wedge is clear of the core face in all positions of advance of the mining head, the peripheries of the dislodging wedges receding to compensate for advance thereof, as has been previously explained. Also during advance of the dislodging wedges into the coal face, the thrusting and backward pulling action on the cores will continue until the cores are completely dislodged from the face, to depths substantially equal to the outer peripheries of the associated cutter blocks.

It should here be understood that since the peripheral faces of the core dislodging wedges recede an amount substantially equal to the distance the mining head advances into or along the coal face, that the effective breaking depth of the core dislodging wedges is that of the leading edges thereof, or the peripheries of the cutter blocks 27, 27.

At the dislodging wedges just mentioned come out of the kerf, the dislodging wedge on the second flange 25 from the left hand side of the figure will next come into the kerf cut by the associated cutter bits 29, 29 into engagement with the kerf wall to wedge or laterally shear the core between the first and second rows of cutter bits and hook the same backwardly. This dislodging action will then be continued by the successive dislodging wedges during each revolution of the mining head 10, to uniformly dislodge the cores between the cutter bits 15, 15, with a uniform reaction on the mining head during the entire breaking operation.

It may be seen from the foregoing that a simplified form of core dislodging means has been provided, resulting in an improved form of cutting and dislodging element, successively wedging and drawing back the cores between adjacent kerfs, as the mining head advances therealong, and that the wedging faces of the dislodging wedges are so formed as to exert a backward hooking action on the cores and an inward thrusting action on the mining head, to hold the mining head solidly into the coal face against the thrust reaction of cutting tending to kick the mining head out of the coal face.

It may further be seen that the mining head of our invention increases the percentage of lump coal mined by avoiding the crushing of the coal by the dislodging wedges, by receding the peripheries of the dislodging wedges from the leading to trailing edges thereof in accordance with the rate of feed of the mining head and also solves the problem of holding the mining head solidly into the face against the thrust reaction of cutting tending to kick it out by the inwardly inclined hook like wedging faces of the dislodging wedges.

It will be understood that modifications and variations of the present invention may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

We claim as our invention:

1. A continuous mining head for coal and the like comprising a rotary drum having a plurality of cutter bit carrying cutter bocks mounted around the periphery of the drum in laterally spaced rows, and dislodging means associated with said rows of cutter blocks, for dislodging the cores between the kerfs cut thereby comprising dislodging wedges having kerf wall engaging faces increasing in thickness from the leading to trailing edges thereof along the outer peripheries thereof and receding angularly inwardly from the peripheries to the inner margins thereof, and forming hook like wedging kerf Wall engaging faces, wider at their peripheries than their inner margins and exerting a pulling reaction against the core, pulling the core backwardly off the face, and at the same time exterting a counter thrust pulling the min ing head back into the face.

2. In a continuous mining head for coal and the like, a rotatably driven drum having a plurality of cutter bit carrying cutter blocks mounted around the periphery of said drum in laterally spaced aligned rows, dislodging means associated with said rows of cutter blocks, for dislodging the cores between the kerfs cut thereby comprising a plurality of core dislodging wedges, each having an outer periphery receding radially inwardly from the leading edge thereof in the general form of a spiral receding toward the axis of said drum an amount determined by the rate of advance of said cutter head into the kerf, and having a wedging face inclined inwardly toward the base thereof to form an inclined hook like core wedging face engageable with the kerf wall to draw the core backwardly from the kerf and pull the mining head inwardly within the coal face.

3. In a continuous mining head for coal and the like, a rotary drum having a plurality of cutter bit carrying cutter blocks mounted around the periphery thereof in laterally spaced aligned rows, and dislodging means associated with certain of said cutter blocks, for dislodging the cores between the kerfs cut thereby comprising core dislodging wedges having arcuate peripheries increasing in width from the leading to trailing edges thereof and radially receding from the leading to trailing edges thereof distances determined by the rate of advance of said mining head into the coal, and having kerf wall engaging faces entering the kerfs in parallel relation with respect to the kerf wall and diverging outwardly from the leading edges thereof and inclined inwardly toward the base thereof, and presenting wedge-like hooking faces laterally shearing the cores between adjacent kerfs and pulling the cores backwardly and at the same time exerting a thrust reaction against said mining head, holding said mining head solidly against the coal face.

4. In a mining head for dislodging coal and the like from the solid, a rotary drum having a plurality of parallel spaced radial flanges having cutter blocks and bits projecting radially therefrom for cutting a plurality of laterally spaced kerfs in a coal face, and core dislodging means associated with certain of said flanges and blocks, said core dislodging means being on opposite side faces of the center of the center flange of said flanges in association with certain blocks thereon and on the outer side faces of the flanges spaced outwardly therefrom, on opposite sides of said center flange, and having arcuate outer peripheries in substantially the planes of the outer peripheries of said blocks at the leading edges thereof and receding radially from the leading to trailing edges thereof in the general form of a spiral receding toward the axis of said drum an amount determined by the rate of advance of said mining head into and along the coal face, and also having inclined wedging faces extending from the leading edge faces, substantially parallel to the kerf wall and diverging outwardly from said flanges, to exert a lateral thrusting action on the kerf wall.

5. In a mining head for coal and the like, a rotary drum having a plurality of laterally spaced radial flanges having cutter blocks and bits projecting radially therefrom, for cutting a plurality of laterally spaced parallel kerfs in a coal face, and core dislodging means associated with certain of said blocks and extending along the side walls of said flanges for a portion of the circumference thereof, said core dislodging means being on opposite side faces of the center flange of said flanges in association with diametrically opposed blocks thereon and on the outer side faces of the flanges spaced outwardly therefrom, and having advance wedging faces parallel to the kerf wall and inclined outwardly from said flanges adjacent the peripheries thereof, and inclined inwardly from the peripheries thereof toward the bases thereof, to present inwardly inclined hook like wedging faces maintaining the mining head solidly in engagement with the coal face and wedging the core laterally and backwardly from the coal face and also having receding peripheries receding radially inwardly from planes substantially in alignment with the peripheries of the associated blocks in advance of the cutter bits carried thereby in the general form of a spiral receding toward the axis of said drum in accordance with the rate of advance of said mining head into the coal face, and spacing the peripheries of said wedges from References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Kuhn Nov. 25, 1913 Cartlidge Feb. 23, 1954 

